Abel, Sidney G.
Hockey
b. Feb. 22, 1918, Melville, SAS
d. Feb. 8, 2000
Abel began his National Hockey League career in 1938 and became best known as the play-making center on the Detroit Red Wings' "Production Line," with Gordie Howe at right wing and Ted Lindsay at left wing. Coach Jack Adams, who put the line together for the 1947/48 season, said of the trio, "They could score goals in their sleep. They always seem to know where the play will develop."
Abel's best season was 1948-49, when he won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player and was a first-team All-Star. Against Montreal in the 1949 Stanley Cup semi-finals, Abel's line scored 12 of Detroit's 17 goals in a seven-game victory, but Detroit lost to Toronto in the finals.
In 1949-50, Lindsay won the league scoring title with 78 points, Abel was second with 69, and Howe was right behind him with 68. Abel was again named All-Star center. The Red Wings were down 3 games to 2 to the New York Rangers and losing 4-3 in the third period of the sixth game in the Stanley Cup finals that season. Abel assisted on Lindsay's tying goal, then scored the winner, and the Red Wings went on to win the seventh game and the Stanley Cup.
The Chicago Black Hawks traded for Abel before the 1952-53 season and installed him as player-coach. He led Chicago to a third-place tie and its first playoff berth in seven years. He retired from playing after that season and was fired as coach when the team slumped in 1953-54. In 1957, he took over as Detroit's coach and also became general manager in 1962.
Abel left Detroit in a management squabble in January 1971, served briefly as St. Louis Blues coach and general manager that year, and ended his long career in hockey as coach of the Kansas City Scouts for just three games in the 1975-76 season. As a coach, he had a 382-426-155 record.